The Affair of the Lone Banana

Bananas are becoming extinct, this is fairly old news, I read about the imminent demise of the humble Banana in New Scientist 3 years ago. The problem being bananas are sterile, you only get new banana trees by cultivating cutting, so they are genetically the same plant, this plant is threatened by various diseases, and it is hard to develop hybrids from cuttings.

The banana we eat today is not the same variety as we used to buy years ago, that species became extinct for the same reasons.

But now, mainly blamed on rampant deforestation, the Banana may well vanish without some serious work as wild and lesser know varieties are being lost rapidly.

Apparently there is a possible lifesaver, one lone banana tree in the botanical gardens of Calcutta.

Maybe Chimpy McBush should invade Calcutta and save this tree for 'murika (assuming they don't blow up the wrong building and destroy it forever)

Here's a linky